Recently, industry trends for commercial vehicles, such as class 8 long haul tractors, have been to improve vehicle efficiency and performance. One of the ways in which efficiency and performance can be improved is through refinements made to a tandem axle system forming a portion of the driveline of the vehicle. One feature that may be offered in the tandem axle system is a selectable operating mode, such as a 6×2 operating mode and a 6×4 operating mode. In the 6×2 operating mode, a single axle of the tandem axle assembly is drivingly engaged to improve vehicle efficiency. In the 6×4 operating mode, both axles of the tandem axle assembly are drivingly engaged to increase tractive effort. Another feature that may be offered in the tandem axle system is automatic axle engagement, such as switching into the 6×4 operating mode from the 6×2 operating mode in response to a detected wheel slip.
Current tandem axle systems do not offer an operator of a vehicle a selectable axle mode shift schedule with extensive control over a pattern of engagement for the tandem axle system.
It would be advantageous to a device and a method for adapting a shift schedule of a tandem axle system based on an input that improves an efficiency and a performance of a vehicle including the tandem axle system.